Fr. John Higgins
It was about 4th grade when I had a pal named Eddy. He was Presbyterian and we were Methodists. He lived across the street from a big Catholic Church. On Sunday mornings after Church, I’d go to his house and we’d both throw rocks at the Catholics as they drove into the parking lot across the street. One weekday morning I walked to Eddy’s house, but he wasn’t home. So I crossed the street to go home and noticed that the doors of the Church were open. So I went over to see what was happening. I walked in and it was great that they had a little place to wash your face on that hot smoggy summer day. I did that and then went in and sat down waiting to see the “service”.
There were people praying, women with babies, older people, men and a couple of teenagers. Then a cop came in and I thought someone was in trouble. But he knelt and prayed and them left. I was amazed that people were in a church without having to be there. They WANTED to be there. I walked next door to the office and rang the bell. A woman answered and I told her I wanted to be Catholic. She smiled and said that she would get a priest for me.
A young priest came downstairs and talked to me for a few minutes and when I told him I wanted to be become a Catholic he said that I needed my parents permission. I walked home and that afternoon when my mom got home from work I asked her if I could become a Catholic. She warned me to never go back to that church again!
Well, you know what happens when you tell a little boy not to do something I went back as often as I could. That continued until I was a young adult and got a job in a Catholic hospital as an orthopedic technician. It was there that I started going into the chapel at the hospital every day. Finally, one of my coworkers told me that I should just go ahead and become a Catholic. So, I went to the church near my house then, which was a few miles away as we had moved. I talked to a young priest and he gave me instruction and I became a Catholic that year.
Later, my mom got married to my stepdad and things turned bad for her. She was diagnosed with cancer and after a few months she was not doing very well at all. She told me that she was going to be going into the hospital and that she needed to become a Catholic as well. She became a Catholic four days before she died.